The Black Wolf
by Maldemar Kalik
Summary: Sci-fi short story, an aged veteran pirate reflects on the career that led him to this end.


Some men feared darkness, others lived in it. Tiberius tapped the faulty lamp beside his head, it obeyed with a flicker and produced a dim red glow that barely illuminated his console. The rest of the bridge was almost black, save for a few more surviving lights and the odd display panel.

His face was pale and haunted, even more as it was lit by the dim light against the surrounding darkness. His hair was ragged and greyed in places, his face gaunt but not wrinkled, most of the lines that defined his face were old scars. Beneath his torn captain's jacket was a still muscled frame, bloodied and tired, but too stubborn to give up soon.

Another screen flickered back on, showing a wireframe display of the ship. The 'Black Wolf' had sustained heavy damage, sections glowed red almost right across the display. He touched the yellow sector with a steady controlled hand. The display lit up more and zoomed to the indicated sector, a series of data feeds scrolled either side. The Engine room and reactor was at least still functional, he dreaded to think of the horrors breached reactors could cause to a ship and it's crew. Or what's left of them, he morbidly corrected himself.

"Sir!" A junior officer had just entered the bridge, investigating the explosion no doubt.

Tiberius sighed wearily "See if you can get a few more readouts working lad." He placed a hand on the young man's shoulder, then limped out of the broken metal door of the bridge.

The corridor was amassed with girders and sheared metal, wires and sparks. She had never been an aesthetically made ship, but he'd always considered her to have a functional beauty to her. Now though, even that was gone. It was a sad thing to see the ship he'd been through hell with, gutted and wounded, dying, no doubt, like himself.

He looked down at the wound the junior had been so shocked by, not the worst he'd had, but the medical facilities were but space dust now. The bleeding was slow but steady, and his head ached more each moment. Stumbling, he fell into a plain room. He pulled himself to his feet and saw it was in fact Magnus's room, his reliable tactical officer, and a good old friend of many years. He'd already died in the escape the day before. Now his body rested in his hammock serenely, as if the crippling cannon blasts had been unable to reach him.

Tiberius pulled himself up on a stack of boxes, and leant on the the hammock's post.

"Took 'em long enough" He said, mostly to himself.

A low rumble like deep thunder, wracked the ship and indicated the demise of another section to decompression.

"Got us in the end though. Gave us this hell of a last fight to go with" He imagined Magnus say.

A career of infamous piracy, hunting a thousand ships across inumerous asteroid fields and nebulea. He knew the path he had chosen would lead him here sooner or later, but he accepted this fate, he had lived his way and shown his strength and determination to a galactic sector in the process. The customised stealth systems on his personal ship had eluded escort ships, and hunting task forces many times over. In the end though, fate was a master that could not be avoided forever. He had brought his ship to the aid of refugees fleeing the Lyran border war, he had risked his capture then and escaped. Of all the people to have saved his hide, his nemesis Lucian, the best pirate hunter in all Terra-space. Lucian had been famous before he declared he would take down the infamous Black wolf pirate, but had found him to be an uncornerable foe. For 25 years they had chased each other around the trade routes and deeper darker space of the sector. Eventually their encounters grew fewer, but then at the Lyran border they had met again. Both helping, where the governments of either side dared not. Both risking their lives for an act worthy of the history records. Lucian had let him go at Lyria, "call it a draw" He'd said, through weary eyes.

Truly it was the end of an era. Tiberius was sad to see it go, but the inevitable blockade at the Terran border, were most assuredly glad to see their own time without pirates such as himself. Five military destroyers with some new scanning technology, a fate as sure as the setting sun. Had they not met it gloriously he wondered?

Two destroyers had bloomed into space debris in his passing, and he had slipped through their invincible blockade. Doubtless that one wouldn't be in the history records he thought with a laugh. Now they drifted, too far from sympathetic stations or aid. Hull crippled beyond repair, and systems winking out one by one.

"CAPTAIN!" The junior officer's voice pierced the ship's comm.

Disturbed from his gentle slip into the inevitable long sleep, he sat upright again and tapped the acknowledgment button.

"The sensors are up sir! There's a ship in range!" The ensign sounded hopeful, but out here, Tiberius knew, it could only be the pursuing destroyers.

He reached the bridge moments later despite his weakening state.

"Do we have ship to ship comms?" He asked

"Only weak and intermittent, but I believe we can get through"

"Hail them"

The junior tapped several keys, then frustratedly repeated the action twice more before a buzz of static pierced the air.

"This is the Terran military vessel Prowler. Surrender or be destroyed."

Tiberius turned to the junior officer

"Fetch all the remaining crew members, get them to the engine room" He hit the lad sideways to get him moving. Then turned once more to the screen.

"This is the Black wolf, my crew are surrendering to you, do not judge them harshly, they were forced to work aboard my ship without choice nor respite." He almost cringed at his own lie, but perhaps it would save them some sentence time and punishment he hoped.

"Can't control your crew any more eh? Looks like there's finally some justice in this world for thugs like you eh?" He imagined the destroyer captain's face was a cruel grimace of revenge for these words.

"but what about you; Tiberius of the Black wolf? You wish to surrender differently?" He could hear the feint grinding of gritted teeth through the comm static, clearly this was taking too long for the taste of a man bent on the revenge of his fallen comrades.

Tiberius keyed several override sequences and locked down the engine room, then controlled detonations depressurised the adjacent sections, and blew the engine room and her core from the Black wolf.

He gave a moment's thought to their safe rescue soon enough. Then with renewed strength and energy, his hands raced across the last few keys, sending the remaining energy left in the lines that had once connected to the core, to the forward guns. The engine room had been at the rear of the ship, and it's jettison had given him slight forward momentum.

"What th!? You want to die then Tiberius? It will be my pleasure I assure you!" Bellowed the destroyer captain.

"All men die" Coughed Tiberius, standing up from his console.

"But only a few die well" His old hands gripped the console to keep himself upright, it felt as though while he was weaker than ever, everything around him seemed in clearer clarity. The ship lurched as a rail gun round smashed through several dead decks and what was left of the port side. Fire spread through the ship and a tremendous bellowing cacophony rose from beneath him. He hit the red button beside him and the Black wolf gave one last howl.

The fire of the exploding port side built up behind the energy coils of the forward guns, and released an immense blast of uncontrolled plasma. An enormous bolt erupted forward and quickly into the bow of the Destroyer. Another equal blast backfired into the gun and the ship joining the advancing flames and accelerating them through the hull and corridors.

The bright light filled Tiberius's eyes, and he saw Magnus beside him, grinning. He had never felt so relaxed before as he welcomed the fire that took him to oblivion.


End file.
